Geographies of ethnogenesis and diasporas

Ethnogenesis, the emergence of an ethnic group, is pivotal to understand ethnic communities and diasporas, specifically the variety of place attachments, new forms of home and place-making and the emergence of new hybridities and identities. Despite its obvious relevance, geographers have devoted much less attention to ethnogenesis. Moreover, in all disciplines, the concept of ethnogenesis is used in different ways, while the relationship between ethnogenesis and diaspora is practically absent. This article argues first for conceptual clarification and suggests differentiation of types of ethnogenesis and diasporas; second, to focus on the relationship between ethnogenesis and diaspora; and, third, to broaden the focus to include the environment in accounting for ethnogenesis and diasporas

Digital institutions:the case of ethnic websites in the Netherlands

This paper argues that ethnic websites function as digital institutions in their community and foster group identity. In doing so, we add to the literature on institutions in two ways: first, we contribute to the concept of institutions by adding the concept of scripts that captures specific recurrent activities and patterns of interaction. The addition of scripts as a requirement of institutions solves the fuzziness problem since they compel us to specify the behaviour and clarifies how scripts fit ethnic websites. Second, we reveal how ethnic websites unite a wide range of functions–notably, as a means of communication, as a platform on which community members can address ethnic issues, as a device through which to build networks, and as a place from which to download materials in the ethnic community–thus fostering the identity of the ethnic group. We substantiate our argument with data from three ethnic groups in the Netherlands

Policing the nation: Acculturation and street-level bureaucrats in professional life

Assimilation of migrants is assumed to happen through acculturation, which is depicted as neutral, unintended and invisible. In most accounts the role of social actors is pushed into the background, and the conditions that shape and determine the direction of the acculturation are ignored. A further critique of the acculturation concept is that the content of the conveyed culture is not disclosed nor are the outcomes hinted at. We argue that the concept of norm images redresses these criticisms by eliciting the cultural content and specifying the role of actors, that is, professionals, in the conveyance of culture. Using the example of the Amsterdam police force, we demonstrate that police officers impose crucial elements of the Dutch nationalistic discourse, specifically language and loyalty, on migrant citizens and migrant colleagues alike. Thus these police officers operate as reproducers of the social order cemented by Dutch nationalism

The decline of ethnic voting patterns in plural societies:Evidence from Suriname

This article addresses the largely neglected issue of the decline of ethnic cleavages in plural societies as expressed in voting behaviour. It argues that theoretically, Creolization, a specific form of acculturation, accounts for the erosion of ethnic bonding but finds that the application of the concept is limited. Hence, the article combines the current concept of Creolization with that of political hegemony, while broadening Creolization to comprise the acculturation of several ethnic groups. However, the paper considers that actual voting patterns may be countervailed by party characteristics and election campaigns. Using multiple fieldwork methods, the erosion of ethnic voting loyalties is analysed in a case study of Suriname, a Caribbean society that is representative of a class of plural societies. The paper centres on the conceptual apparatus to analyse the erosion of ethnic voting loyalties rather than making comparisons. It claims that its argument is applicable to plural societies that are characterized by the erosion of voting loyalties and decline of ethnic cleavages, notably Trinidad and to a lesser degree in Mauritius and Fiji, and increasingly in Suriname and Guyana